Historical Background

Japan has had relations with other cultures since the
dawn of
its history
(see Early Developments
, ch. 1). Foreign
civilizations
have often provided new ideas for the development of
Japan's own
culture. Chinese teachings and ideas, for example, flowed
into
Japan from the sixth to the ninth century. Along with the
introduction of Buddhism came the Chinese system of
writing and its
literary tradition, and Confucianism
(see Religious and Philosophical Traditions
, ch. 2).

By the ninth century, Kyoto, the imperial capital, had
five
institutions of higher learning, and during the remainder
of the
Heian period, other schools were established by the
nobility and
the imperial court. During the medieval period
(1185-1600), Zen
Buddhist monasteries were especially important centers of
learning,
and the Ashikaga School (Ashikaga Gakko) flourished in the
fifteenth century as a center of higher learning.

In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Japan
experienced intense contact with the major European
powers. Jesuit
missionaries, who accompanied Portuguese traders,
proselytized
Christianity and opened a number of religious schools.
Japanese
students thus began to study Latin and Western music, as
well as
their own language.

By 1603 Japan had been reunified by the Tokugawa regime
(1600-
1867), and by 1640 foreigners had been ordered out of
Japan,
Christianity banned, and virtually all foreign contact
prohibited.
The nation then entered a period of isolation and relative
domestic
tranquillity, which was to last 200 years. When the
Tokugawa period
began, few common people in Japan could read or write. By
the
period's end, learning had become widespread. Tokugawa
education
left a valuable legacy: an increasingly literate populace,
a
meritocratic ideology, and an emphasis on discipline and
competent
performance. Under subsequent Meiji leadership, this
foundation
would facilitate Japan's rapid transition from feudal
country to
modern nation
(see Tokugawa Period, 1600-1867
, ch. 1).

During the Tokugawa period, the role of many of the
bushi, or samurai, changed from warrior to
administrator,
and as a consequence, their formal education and their
literacy
increased proportionally. Samurai curricula stressed
morality and
included both military and literary studies. Confucian
classics
were memorized, and reading and recitating them were
common methods
of study. Arithmetic and calligraphy were also studied.
Most
samurai attended schools sponsored by their han
(domains),
and by the time of the Meiji Restoration of 1868, more
than 200 of
the 276 han had established schools. Some samurai
and even
commoners also attended private academies, which often
specialized
in particular Japanese subjects or in Western medicine,
modern
military science, gunnery, or Rangaku (Dutch studies), as
European
studies were called
(see Intellectual Trends;
The Emergence of Modern Japan, 1868-1919
, ch. 1).

Education of commoners was generally practically
oriented,
providing basic training in reading, writing, and
arithmetic,
emphasizing calligraphy and use of the abacus. Much of
this
education was conducted in so-called temple schools
(terakoya), derived from earlier Buddhist schools.
These
schools were no longer religious institutions, nor were
they, by
1867, predominantly located in temples. By the end of the
Tokugawa
period, there may have been more than 14,000 such schools.
Teaching
techniques included reading from various textbooks,
memorizing, and
repeatedly copying Chinese characters and Japanese script.

After 1868 new leadership set Japan on a rapid course
of
modernization. Realizing from the outset that education
was
fundamental to nation building and modernization, the
Meiji leaders
established a public education system to help Japan catch
up with
the West. Missions were sent abroad to study the education
systems
of leading Western countries. These missions and other
observers
returned with the ideas of decentralization, local school
boards,
and teacher autonomy. Such ideas and ambitious initial
plans,
however, proved very difficult to carry out. After some
trial and
error, a new national education system emerged. As an
indication of
its success, elementary school enrollments climbed from
about 40 or
50 percent of the school-age population in the 1870s to
more than
90 percent by 1900.

By the 1890s, after earlier intensive preoccupation
with
Western, particularly United States, educational ideas, a
much more
conservative and traditional orientation evolved: the
education
system became more reflective of Japanese values.
Confucian
precepts were stressed, especially those concerning the
hierarchical nature of human relations, service to the new
state,
the pursuit of learning, and morality. These ideals,
embodied in
the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education, along with highly
centralized government control over education, largely
guided
Japanese education until the end of World War II.

In the early twentieth century, education at the
primary level
was egalitarian and virtually universal, but at higher
levels it
was multitracked, highly selective, and elitist. College
education
was largely limited to the few national universities,
where German
influences were strong. Three of the imperial universities
admitted
women, and there were a number of women's colleges, some
quite
prestigious, but women had relatively few opportunities to
enter
higher education. During this period, a number of
universities were
founded by Christian missionaries, who also took an active
role in
expanding educational opportunities for women,
particularly at the
secondary level.

After 1919 several of the private universities received
official status and were granted government recognition
for
programs they had conducted, in many cases, since the
1880s. In the
1920s, the tradition of liberal education briefly
reappeared,
particularly at the kindergarten level, where the
Montessori method
attracted a following. In the 1930s, education was subject
to
strong military and nationalistic influences.

By 1945 the Japanese education system had been
devastated, and
with the defeat came the discredit of much prewar thought.
A new
wave of foreign ideas was introduced during the postwar
period of
military occupation
(see World War II and the Occupation, 1941-52
, ch. 1).

Occupation policy makers and the United States
Education
Mission, set up in 1946, made a number of changes aimed at
democratizing Japanese education: instituting the
six-three-three
grade structure (six years of elementary school, three of
lower-
secondary school, and three of upper-secondary school) and
extending compulsory schooling to nine years. They
replaced the
prewar system of higher-secondary schools with
comprehensive upper-
secondary schools (high schools). Curricula and textbooks
were
revised, the nationalistic morals course was abolished and
replaced
with social studies, locally elected school boards were
introduced,
and teachers unions established
(see Contemporary Setting
, this
ch.).

With the abolition of the elitist higher education
system and
an increase in the number of higher education
institutions, the
opportunities for higher learning grew. Expansion was
accomplished
initially by granting university or junior college status
to a
number of technical institutes, normal schools, and
advanced
secondary schools.

After the restoration of full national sovereignty in
1952,
Japan immediately began to modify some of the changes in
education,
to reflect Japanese ideas about education and educational
administration. The postwar Ministry of Education regained
a great
deal of power. School boards were appointed, instead of
elected. A
course in moral education was reinstituted in modified
form,
despite substantial initial concern that it would lead to
a renewal
of heightened nationalism.

By the 1960s, postwar recovery and accelerating
economic growth
brought new demands to expand higher education. But as the
expectations grew that the quality of higher education
would
improve, the costs of higher education also increased. In
general,
the 1960s was a time of great turbulence in higher
education. Late
in the decade especially, universities in Japan were
rocked by
violent student riots that disrupted many campuses. Campus
unrest
was the confluence of a number of factors, including the
anti-
Vietnam War movement in Japan, ideological differences
between
various Japanese student groups, disputes over campus
issues, such
as discipline; student strikes, and even general
dissatisfaction
with the university system itself.

The government responded with the University Control
Law in
1969 and, in the early 1970s, with further education
reforms. New
laws governed the founding of new universities and
teachers'
compensation, and public school curricula were revised.
Private
education institutions began to receive public aid, and a
nationwide standardized university entrance examination
was added
for the national universities. Also during this period,
strong
disagreement developed between the government and teachers
groups.

Despite the numerous educational changes that have
occurred in
Japan since 1868, and especially since 1945, the education
system
still reflects long-standing cultural and philosophical
ideas: that
learning and education are esteemed and to be pursued
seriously,
and that moral and character development are integral to
education.
The meritocratic legacy of the Meiji period has endured,
as has the
centralized education structure. Interest remains in
adapting
foreign ideas and methods to Japanese traditions and in
improving
the system generally.

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